Wild turkey brought me down!

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f.mayrand

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Been riding 30 years and thought that hitting the pavement would be due to a cornering mistake, something in a blind corner, or the like.

But no... Last week at the end of a nice riding day in the adirondacks, going in a straight line, a 25 lbs wild turkey came out of nowhere and i hit it going 60 at handle bar / steering level. Ugly stupid useless ridiculous creature

Crashed pretty hard and was unconcious. Had all protective gear on thankfully. Broken shoulder collar bone ribs and a brain contusion but happy there is no permanent damage

A reminder that on 2 wheels you never know what to expect!
 
Wow! Glad you are relatively ok from that. It can happen so quickly. Great you were wearing full gear, for sure.

Did you see it before impact or did it just smack you before you had a chance to react?
 
Damn! That totally blows but it's nice that you are typing to us about it! Those birds have us worried around here too. They seem to be growing in numbers too fast and they are everywhere. I think we need to declare open season.

Heal fast and kudos for ATGATT! What condition is the bike? Pics of the gear and bike? What gear were tou wearing? I always like to know what brands held up and what failed to protect the rider.

Get well soon!
 
I saw the bird about a quarter second before it hit so did not have any time to react / try to avoid.

As far as Gear: Shoei Qwest helmet, Daytona Boots, Held Gloves, Teknic leathers 2 peice. The EMTs cut up all protective gear on scene

A friend of mine has the SPIDI DPS vest and I am definitely buying that as I replace my gear. Locking your head in place and protecting your collar bone seems worth it.

As far as the bike I have not seen it yet - I regained conciousness in the ambulance. I will try to go check out the damage next week and take some pics!

 
I broke a collar bone about 5 years back, Tryed to push over a sand dune with my sholder, had full off road gear on.. Very Painful and took way too long to heal 100% , Hope you heal up well.
Turkeys Suck!
 
Wow dude, glad you alive to tell about it. Last year an older rider here in Columbus on a Goldwing hit a tire/rim combo that fell out of someone's pick-up truck laying on the highway. Reports said 4 cars hit the same tire before the bike, who apparently was riding behind the last car and hit it the tire as well. He didn't make it.

Nothing to be ashamed of there, not like you installed the rear tire on the front wheel and went riding :). That would be something to be ashamed of, not to mention interesting to share the details of the install.
 
Wow, what a crazy story. I'm glad you're here to tell the tale. Get well quick.

I hit a black lab like that about 25 years ago. He jumped up from the side of a river bank, between my front wheel and the motor. Somehow I didn't crash.
 
Dang man that sux. I almost hit a robin the other morning and that scared the S@#! outa me could not imagine a big a$$ turkey. Get well soon and hope the bike is not trashed.
 
I was riding my favorite 2-lane country road a couple of summers ago. Came up over a rise and saw a large Tom standing on the left shoulder. I had time to react and slowed from 55 as I waited for him to decide what he was going to do. At that moment, I was concerned about someone in a car cresting the hill, now behind me, and rear-ending me.

At the last instant, with the turkey motionless, I hit the gas, to get by him. As I accellerated, the turkey decided to fly across the road, directly in front of me. Since he was coming from left to right, my first reaction was to fend him off with my left arm, but I decided he might have enough momentum to torque me off the bike. Instead, I mashed my face/upper body down flat on the tank and hung on. Turkeys don't have much of a climb rate, and as I continued forward, I felt something brush my left shoulder and back.

This entire scenario probably took 3-4 seconds, and as I sat upright (and let out a sigh of relief), I wondered if I had imagined contacting the bird. Then I noticed the left mirror was folded back, as it's designed to do.

I considered myself very lucky to have avoided a direct collision with that 20 lb. bird. Now, our state natural resources dept. has announced there are feral pigs in that same area.

ATGATT for me.
 
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